Rise and Fall
by California Marshmallow
Summary: Fang and the flock are in for another wild ride. The school seems to have stopped hunting them down. But nothing good can last can it? And what happens when Max suddenly loses her wings? new adventures turning life upside down.
1. Chapter 1

I picked up another meaningless stone from the sand beside where I sat on the empty beach and pulled my arm back and threw it with all I had. I fell back into the sand muttering to myself.

"Moron. What did you expect?"

There was no reason that she should have waited around for me; especially not if I went around and kissed other girls, not just any girls either, human girls.

"MORON!" I screamed at the top of my lungs into the endlessly dark sky that was pressing down on me. My voice cracked as silent tears began a journey down my face. "Moron…" I drifted off into a dreamless sleep watched by Max, although I never knew this.

"She loves you." A voice woke me up.

I opened my eyes and saw Angel looking down at me. I sighed , nervously running a hand through my hair. She really needs to stop reading my mind, especially when I'm asleep and don't have control.

"That's when it's most fun though! I get to know the things you really care about." She paused as I shock my head and she looked out at the sea. We were both quiet for a while then she continued, "You should tell her. And don't worry about Iggy, he likes someone else." And with that, she got up and ran into the water and went under.

Even though she was young, I wasn't worried about her, even when she didn't resurface for about ten minutes. I got up from my spot on the beach and walked over to the rest of my 'family' was. Angel skipped ahead of me and got to everyone first.

"Hey Fang!" I looked up and saw Max smiling at me. "How did you sleep?"

"Ehh… how about you? You sleep well?" I replied. She doesn't love me.

"Yes she does!" Angel said at the same time as Max replied with, "I slept great, but I missed you. Where were you last night? None of us could find you."

Ignoring Max, I turned on Angel. "Get out of my head Angel!"

"No! And if you're not going to tell her then I will!" My eyes widened at this comment of hers and I mentally pleaded with her not to say anything to her. Unfortunately, Angel had taken that moment to decide to get out of my mind and didn't hear my pleas to her. Angel turned from me to face Max and opened up her mouth. "Fang loves you, Max!"

Complete silence. Max's face was unreadable. Angel turned back to me with a smug look on her face. I heard Nudge and Gazzy snicker, and saw Iggy rolling his eyes. Angel turned back to face Max, waiting for a response.

"I know he loves me Angel." I looked up hopefully, but Max continued, "He loves you, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy and me. And we all love him." I couldn't move. Angel was wrong; Max didn't love me anymore than a brother, which is what I should have been. It was wrong to want more from her. I looked back down at my black converse high-tops. They were falling apart, and had quite a few holes present. I'd have to get a new pair soon.

Max began to speak again but I didn't look up, "Go feed Total, sweetie." Angel skipped away and the others followed her lead and went away to leave me alone with Max.

I still didn't look up at her. Finally, I got enough courage to look up at her before I spread out my wings to fly off. I wanted to get away from Max, if she didn't want me as more than a brother I couldn't bear to stay and watch her love someone else.

Suddenly Max spread her wings and gently taped the edge of mine then silently pushed off the ground and hovered a few yards above me. I looked up at her and felt my face turn hard as I turned away and flew off as far as I could. I didn't want her sympathy. I didn't want to listen to whatever she was going to tell me. I didn't want to hear how loving me would be like loving a brother. I didn't want to hear that I would have had a chance if I hadn't kissed that girl when we went to school. (Not the evil school, the normal one.) I really was a moron. And dam Angel for interfering. Dam her dam her dam her!


	2. Chapter 2

I never forgot how hurt she looked when I chanced a look back at her. Moron. She hardly spoke to me anymore when I did return to the rest of the group. She didn't talk much to anyone anymore actually. I miss what I used to have with Max, even if it wasn't as much as I wanted; at least it was better than this. Nudge was mad at me and so was Gazzy. Both of them believe I hurt Max, which I guess I did, so neither of them will speak to me. Angel was beyond confused, but wisely chose not to interfere with my love life any farther, and Iggy, well, he was still Iggy; trying to make the awkward rift in the family go away. Honestly, if it wasn't for Iggy, I think this whole thing would have become so unbearable that I would have left.

I really miss Max. out of everyone else I was closest with her. I wish I could take everything I've done to hurt her away. I should forget about my love for her, but I couldn't.

My thoughts were suddenly interrupted my footsteps. I froze. I was on watched duty. I silently rose to my feet and prepared my self for an attack and was ready to wake the others if need be. But what came out of the shadows of the trees was not an Eraser of another one of our enemies. I froze, completely numb, without a thought running through my temporarily empty brain. It was Max limping towards me. Blood covered, crying hurting Max.

My brain kicked back into overdrive. A million questions popped into my mind, and a million thoughts. I jumped down from the ledge I was perched on and landed a few feet from Max. I took a few running steps to close the distance between us and pulled her into my arms holding her as if I would never let go. She didn't push me away, but crumbled in my arms, crying.

"Max, what's wrong? What attacked you?"

Even crying and covered in blood, she looked amazingly beautiful. She didn't answer me, but kept crying. I kept holding her, slowly rocking her. She finally replied to my second question with a single word, "me"

My brain was racing again. Why had she hurt herself? Was this my fault? Is she going to be okay? I help her and flew upward, back to the mouth of the cave we were sleeping in. I leaned back against the wall and took off my jacket and shirt. I used my shirt to try and wipe some of the blood away from her face, the covered her with my jacket. She curled up in a ball and put her head in my lap and drifted off to sleep.

I kept her there all night, gently rubbing her face and holding her hand. I think I finally drifted off to sleep around sunrise, for when I woke up the sun was up and Max was gone. I panicked, and ran back into the cave to see if she was there. I saw her lying down and Iggy's hands running all over her body. At first I was jealous. How dare Iggy touch her, then realized that she was slapping his hands away as he argued with her saying he needed to make sure she hadn't lost too much blood. When Iggy heard me he looked up but couldn't see me. I mumbled something and walked over and sat down and put Max's hands in mine. Iggy seemed to sense that I could take care of it and that I needed to, so he walked away and said something to the others so they all left, leaving Max and me alone.

As soon as the others were out of ear shot, Max began to speak to me.

"I'm so sorry Fang. I was being selfish. I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry!" She was crying again. I did my best to calm her down.

"It's alright Max, I'm not mad at you. Calm down. It's okay." My words seemed to have no effect on her.

"I'm sorry, Fang, I'm so sorry."

I don't know why I did it but I did. I just leaned down and kissed her. She froze beneath my lips for a moment then closed her eyes and kissed me back. It was a brief kiss, and I pulled away after only a few seconds and whispered "I'm sorry Max. I love you."

She didn't respond but took my hands in hers once again and we just sat there for a bit. Finally I realized that I needed Iggy to help her. I kissed her gently on the forhead and then flew out of the cave to find Iggy. I didn't have to search for long since he was just at the edge of the forest. I brought him and the others back in, and brought him over to Max. His fingers ran over her arms and chest, and then turned and told Gazzy and Nudge to get him bandages, a needle and thread. Most people would be terrified of a blind boy giving them stitches, but Max was calm now and didn't mind. I think she would have been more scared if I did it even though I could see.

Iggy expertly fixed Max up and bandaged her head where she had a wicked gash and her chest with an equally as big gash across it. When he pulled her shirt off to put stitches across her chest I looked away from Max, but never left her side, and held her hand the whole time.

When Iggy was done, he flew down to the forest and found a river to rinse himself off in. Angel and the others stayed in the cave and began to make breakfast for everyone.

After breakfast, Angel and Nudge went off to swim, and Iggy and Gazzy went off exploring the area, leaving me and Max quite alone again. I had a feeling Angel was behind it, but didn't care. I sat down by Max in silence.

From where we were sitting we could look out over the forest. Neither of us said anything, either because we were too scared to ruin the moment or because there simply was nothing to say. After a while Max got up and went about to start making us dinner, and I went to go find everyone and bring them back. I found Angel and Nudge swimming around and they seemed to have made friends with a few of the fish, or at least Angel had. Total was with them, although not in the water. I sent them back to the cave and went on to keep looking for Iggy and Gazzy. I found those too in a clearing the woods, building something. I helped them carry their creations back and we all flew back to the cave.

The next few days passed until one night when Max decided we should try to be normal, and live a normal life.

"What do you mean normal? Isn't how we are living normal?" Angel asked turning to Max

"Not exactly like this, sweetie, I mean, like with a proper family, with a mum and a dad."

"You are the mum Max, and Fang can be the daddy."

"We could be, but we can't teach you."

"What do you want to teach me?"

"Everything, the things you learn in school, I want to do something worth while with my life and I need to learn things to be able to do anything. I need to go to school. We all should."

Everyone was silent. I looked up to Max questing, but she was looking down. Iggy was the first to respond, and eventually everyone agreed with Max. We would start school after this summer.


	3. Chapter 3

We didn't have much money to use to buy supplies for school, but we made do with that we had. Max and I would be in 10th grade and Iggy in 9th at the same school. Angel was in 6th grade and Nudge and Gazzy were in 8th at the middle school down the street. We all flew part way to the bus stop then walked the rest of the way and rode the bus to school. We didn't want people to know about us so we had to appear to be going to school normal.

Angel Nudge and Gazzy seemed to like school well enough. Iggy was miserable here. Since he was blind, he had this really old lady following him around trying to teach him how to walk around without bumping into thing and how to read brail. The way they talked to him made him feel like they thought he was retarded.

Max seemed to really be enjoying her self, and had made a few friends. I kept to myself for the most part. Even though I was in the same grade as Max, I only had one class with her. She had a different lunch period than me, but Iggy had the same one as me so I often spent lunch with him. We still slept in the cave because we couldn't afford a house, but the three oldest of us all had jobs and were saving up.

Over winter break, Iggy came up with the idea for us to build our own house. He had been taking a woodshop class in school and thought it couldn't be too hard. We set about to build it. We decided it wouldn't be too big. We figured we could make it out here in the forest so that we would still have our privacy. We roped off an area of land and started work on cutting all the trees in that area down. We would use the wood from those trees to build the house. It took the six of us all of a day to cut down all the trees and dig up the stumps.

That night, Nudge and Max started making blue prints for the house, while Gazzy and Iggy went out to the store to buy hammers and nails and things like that, that we would need. Angel and I went to a furniture store and started picking out what we wanted to furnish the house, but we didn't buy anything.

When we got back to the cave, we all discussed the house and explained the blue prints to Iggy since he was in charge of this project. We decided on making the house two stories, with two of the bed rooms on the second floor, two on the bottom floor, and the fifth bed room in the attic. I would be in the attic, and Angel and Nudge would share a room on the second floor and Max would have the other bedroom on that floor. They would have a bathroom in-between the two bed rooms and a study on that floor as well. Gazzy and Iggy would have the two rooms on the bottom floor. They would also share a bathroom. We would have a small living room and kitchen on the bottom floor with them.

We all went to sleep that night and dreamt about the house we were building. First thing in the morning, everyone headed over to start working on the actual building of the house except for me. I took some of the money we had saved up and went to buy us all breakfast since we were running low on food again. By the afternoon, we had the frame work up, so Max, Iggy and I went to work, and the other three went swimming. By the end of the first week of break, the house was almost done. The girls went to a store out in town to pick out paint to paint the walls. Painting the house was a lot of fun, but I have a feeling more painted ended up on us than on the house.

Finally, everything was done and all we needed was furniture. We were running really low on money by this point, we couldn't get any yet. We brought our sleeping bags and all our other possessions from the cave over to our house and put them in our respective rooms.

After winter break, when we went back to school, I started to see less and less of Iggy at lunch. I started spending most of my lunch periods reading or sketching pictures. Some days I ate with a few people I was friendly with, but no one really worth keeping around. Days became monotonous. I woke up, ate breakfast, went to school, went to work, came home, did homework, ate dinner, and went to bed. I spent time with Max at work since we both worked at the same clothing store. I don't really know why we worked there of all places, but it paid us very nicely. Iggy worked in the back of a warehouse down the street. We were both kind of worried about him hurting himself since he is blind, but he didn't seem to let it affect him at all.

As we got our paychecks, we took out a little bit each week to buy furniture. We started with basics like a fridge and toilets and lights. The toilets were pretty cool, even if I didn't really notice why for a bit. They have seat warmers in them so you don't freeze while taking a dump I guess. I laughed at it when Gazzy was telling me, it was him apparently that picked them out. Next we started getting beds and covers and sheets.

First we got a bunk bed for Nudge and Angel. It was wooden and Nudge got the top since she was older. Angel chose a set of green and purple covers that where in an argyle pattern. Nudge got a pink and blue checkerboard patterned set of covers. Next we got a bed for Gazzy. His was a metal frame queen-sized bed. It was high enough of the ground that he could easily crawl under it. His sheets and covers were denim, but really deep blue. Next we got beds for Iggy and Max, I said I was fine with sleeping bag for a few more weeks so they got them before me. Iggy had a wooden frame queen-sized bed with simple grey and red striped sheets and covers. Max got a wooden frame bed as well. Her sheets and covers of choice reminded me of quilts that old people made, but she seemed to love them. Finally we got my bed. It was a queen sized metal bunk bed, but instead of having a second bed on the bottom, it had a desk.

After we got the beds, we gave everyone a small amount of money each week to spend on other things for their rooms. We also made sure to have enough money for food and everything. Nudge and Gazzy had gotten jobs as babysitters so we had a little bit more money to work with.

By the time we finished getting everything for the house, the school year was almost over. Max and I didn't have a lot of time to talk anymore because we were both spending a lot of time studying for finals. I still hadn't asked her out like I wanted to, but we spent a lot of time together when we could. Iggy had met a girl that we sometimes heard him talking to on the phone, but we didn't know much about her. Not even her name, Iggy was private about his life like that I guess.

With prom just around the corner, it seemed to be all any of the girls could talk about. Apparently our school is different than most since it has all high school grades can go to prom, not just seniors or whatever. This meant Max, Iggy and I would all go. I really want to go with Max but I'm too scared to ask her. I don't want things to get awkward between us again and I defiantly don't want her to get hurt again. Oh well, I still had two weeks before prom.


	4. Chapter 4

A week later, and I still hadn't asked her to prom. I wanted to ask her out, but couldn't. I was saved the trouble of it though when she asked me to take her to the prom since every grade went at our school since it was so small. I agreed and she jumped up into my arms and gave me a huge hug. I didn't want to let go of her, I had missed holding her. There was only a week left till prom, and so I had time to find something to wear, but Max seemed to be freaking out about finding a dress. She went out with a couple of girls for a couple of hours to find the right dress and shoes. I went out for half an hour with Angel and Gazzy and we picked out a nice shirt and pants and a funky tie. Angel was adamant about the fact that I needed a red shirt, but wouldn't tell me why.

Finally the morning of prom came around and I dragged myself out of bed to find Max already getting ready. I just shock my head and laughed and went down to the kitchen and made myself breakfast. Around 4:00 I went up to the attic and took a shower and got dressed. I went down stairs and sat on the couch with Iggy waiting for Max. Finally, around 5:45 she came downstairs. She looked amazing. She had a full length black dress with little bits of red in it. It was strapless and fit her so well. She looked completely amazing. Angel seemed pleased with my reaction. Even Iggy was staring a bit. The three of us, Max, Iggy and I, went outside and got in the car we had rented for the night.

I drove us into town so we could pick up Iggy's date. Iggy was bringing a girl named Alice. Alice was nice looking, although I had never spoken to her. She had red hair and deep green eyes her skin was the palest white I had ever seen, but she still looked really pretty. She wore a completely black strapless short dress. She got into the car with the rest of us and we drove to a nice restaurant for dinner before the dance. We pulled up and I let Iggy and the girls out in front and they went inside while I parked the car.

I joined them a few minutes later, silently thanking Angel for making reservations because the place was packed. The waiter brought over a menu for each of us. Iggy and I both got steaks, while the girls just had a salad, but Max was sure to steal a few bites of my steak.

"Max, where do you know Fang and Iggy from?" Alice asked, trying to make conversation with all of us instead of just Iggy.

"Well, I-uh… well…" I understood what Max was having trouble with. How can she explain that she has known me my whole life and that she lives with us without making it sound like she is my sister?

"We all used to go to the public school a few towns over before we came over to this school. Angel's Dad drives us over to the bus stop on his way to work. All of our parents are pretty good friends." Iggy and I nodded in agreement, and Iggy quickly changed the subject.

"What are you doing this summer everyone?" Iggy asked the group at large, but it was Alice that answered him first.

"My parents are sending me to an art school for the summer so I can better pursue my artistic skills." Alice announced happily.

"That sounds fun. I don't think I'll be doing much, we will probably travel around a bit but that's all. What kind of art are you in to?" Max jumped in sounding excited.

"Well, mainly photography, but also I love painting."

"Do you have any photos you've taken or paintings done?"

"Yea, they are at home, come you should come over sometime and I'll show them to you."

"Fang, what are you planning on doing for the summer?" Max turned and asked me, trying to draw Iggy and I back in.

"Not really sure, I'll probably just hangout in town or go camping. Not too exciting." I said looking at Max. She had put on make-up for the first time I'd seen her with it at least. She had done her eyes up a bit more than most girls, but I liked the look.

Max glanced down at her watch and told us that it was time to go if we wanted to be on time. Iggy and I paid the bill, each of us paying for half. Alice seemed to have found a way to guild Iggy without making it seem like she was guiding him. I saw Max smiling and mouth 'thank you' to Alice for this.

We got back in the car, and I drove us to the hotel where the dance was. I let Iggy and the girl out in front of the hotel and went and parked the car. Iggy and Alice were already inside when I came back but max was waiting outside for me. I smiled at her and held out my hand for her to grab and led her into the dance. We were stopped a little way in by photographers trying to get us to take pictures with our dates. Max looked at me and I shrugged my shoulders. She smiled and pulled me over into line with her. Iggy and Alice were inline about three couples ahead. In line me and Max talked about different things, and what our real plans for the summer were. She thinks that our 'family' should go on a trip somewhere. We could fly or take a plane. Or maybe drive.

It was finally our turn and the photographer posed us together. I was suddenly very conscious of where he put my hand, on the small of her back, and how close she was. She must have put perfume on because she smelt different than normal. More flowery. She looked up at me smiling while the photographer snapped the picture. After the picture we walked over to one of the tables set up around the room and I took of my new jacket and put it on the back of my chair and Max put her purse down. She smiled at me and then turned to one of her friends who had just walked in. I joined in the conversation, well, more I just stood my Max's side and responded enough not to sound rude.

The song changed and slow song came on, and Max looked up at me questioningly. It took me a moment to realize she wanted me to ask her to dance.

"Do you want to…" I started to ask but she broke me off by answering with "yea!" and the biggest smile I've ever seen.

I took her hand and lead her out to the dance floor. She put her arms loosely around my neck and I put my hands around her waist and pulled her close to me. I'm about a head taller than her so her head was resting against my chest.

"I can hear your heart beating." She said and looked up at me.

"That's good. That means I'm still alive." I replied laughing softly.

I leaned my head down and kissed her. It was the first time I had kissed her since that night she hurt herself. It was so much better than I remembered.

"That was nice" she said smiling then putting her head back on my chest and closing her eyes. I pulled her closer to me, possessively. Unfortunately the song ended and faster song came on.

I kept hold of her for a few seconds longer then finally let go. She took my hand and led me outside to the hotel's courtyard. We walked down the path and sat on a bench facing a fountain. The fountain was of two dolphins in a position making them look like a heart. I laughed at the over corniness of the moment. Max looked up at me questioningly but I just shook my head.

She laughed as my black hair fell across my face. She reached up and pushed it back. Would now be a good time to ask her out? I guess now is as good a time as ever.

"Max, I.. would… well I was…" I couldn't get it out right. I swallowed and started again. "Max, would you like to be my boyfriend?" Oh god. Did I really just say that? How stupid am I? I messed up.

"No," my heart fell a million miles, "But I would love to be your girlfriend" Max said half laughing. I smiled and leaned over and kissed her again.


	5. Chapter 5

She pulled away from my kiss smiling and put her head on my shoulder and we both just sat there watching the fountain. After a bit we decided to go back into the dance and see how Iggy was doing. We found him sooner than we expected, about half way up the path back to the hotel and a little more naked than I would have liked. Max was livid with him all of sudden and I couldn't figure out why. Then I realized that Alice would notice his wings and put us all in jeopardy! I let go of Max's waist and stomped over to Iggy and Alice in the bushes. I literally grabbed Iggy and pined him against the nearest tree. Max was at my side in seconds, yelling at the pair of us.

"HOW COULD YOU BE SO STUPID IGGY! WHAT WHERE YOU THINKING!" I was yelling at Iggy, who was blindly looking for Alice.

"FANG! WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM! YOU CANT SHOW OFF YOUR SPEED OR STRENGTH LIKE THAT! IGGY! HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?" Max had turned a bright red that matched my shirt.

"GET OFF OF ME!" Iggy struggled against my hold. "She doesn't know and this wont let her know! Don't believe me feel my back for yourselves!"

Max commanded me to let go of him so I did. She then went and rubbed her hands over his back, and motioned for me to do so as well. I did and was shocked! His back was perfectly smooth. You would think he didn't have wings. Max muttered something like 'you better fill us in on this latter' and stormed off, leaving me to apologize to Alice.

I guess Iggy wanted me out of there as soon as possible because he said he would explain and turned away from me and marched back to a frightened looking Alice. I'm not sure how he managed to get back there without tripping, but whatever. I went back into the dance to look for Max. I didn't see her right away, but soon located her talking with a few of her friends, pointedly ignoring me. I sighed and went to the bar to grab a coke and went to the table I had put my jacket at earlier and sat down.

With Max and Iggy both mad at me, I would have left early, if I hadn't needed to give them rides home. I suppose they could have flown, but Iggy had to get Alice home. A little after midnight I found Iggy and Alice. They told me that they had seen Max leave over an hour ago, so I took those to the car and to Alice's house. I waited in the car while Iggy walked Alice to her door and kissed her good-bye. Iggy got back in the car and the two of us drove home in complete silence. Once we got there, everyone else seemed to be asleep, and Max had her door locked.

I went up to my attic bedroom and changed out of my stupid prom outfit and lay on top of my bed with only my boxers on. I couldn't figure out why Max had gotten mad at me. I stared angrily up at the rough wood that made up the roof of the house and my bedroom ceiling. I must have drifted off to sleep at some point because next think I knew, it was morning, and everyone seemed to already be out and about. Except for Max, who was still locked in her room.

I sighed and walked to the kitchen for breakfast. I then proceeded to spend the rest of the day walking around the woods around our house. As I made my way back home, the smell of Iggy's cooking met my nose. Once inside, I sat down at the table with the rest of them and pulled a plate piled with food towards me. Dinner was a silent affair and after the dishes were cleared, everyone went to their own rooms.

Sunday passed much the same, and then came Monday, and with Monday came school. The five of us with out Max get on the bus. The younger three get off at the middle school, leaving just Iggy and I on the bus with a few other class mates. I nervously look up at Iggy, and realize that to set things right with Max, I must do so with Iggy first.

"Geez, Ig. I'm really sorry. I messed up. I should have known you would be smarter than that, I guess I just wasn't thinking. Sorry…"

Iggy cut me off with a smile, letting me know I was forgiven. He told me he was at fault for not telling us how he had learned to hid his wings like that. We were standing up to get off the bus when he spoke again.

"Hey Fang, I told Alice that you had mistaken me for some other guy and that's why you over reacted like that" He grins at me and then walks off to find Alice.

By the end of the week things seemed to have fallen back in to normal order, except Max was still in her room. Iggy had been taking a plate up to her room for meals, and then after the rest of us had finished eating he would go back and get the empty plates.

Friday night Iggy was going out with Alice again, so I was left at home to fend for myself for dinner. After giving up in the kitchen, I walked to Max's room, which was still locked. I sank down and sat on the floor with my back to her door, talking to her and apologizing. Around midnight when Iggy walked in the house, I went up to the attic and got in bed, only to be waken up two hours later by a sobbing Max.

She was standing in the middle of the room shaking as tears ran down her face. I got out of bed and went to comfort her but stopped before wrapping my arms around her, realizing I was again in only my boxers. She laughed slightly at me, letting me know she didn't care, so I took another step forward and pulled her against myself. She just held me and cried. Once she fell asleep I carried her over to my bed and laid her down in it, then got in next to her and held her, never wanting to let go of her again.

Unfortunately, the night's events were far from over. When I next woke up, it was to find myself covered in blood, and Max missing.


	6. Chapter 6

I was scared. I don't understand why Max is gone again! Who took her from me? Why? I ran down stairs and banged on everyone's door to wake them up. Everyone filed in to the kitchen a few minutes later and went from sleepy to wide-eyed shock at the site of me covered in blood. No one spoke for a minute then Angel broke the silence.

"Fang! Calm down! Your thoughts are too jumbled up so I can't work out what's wrong!"

"Why are you covered in blood?"

"Whose blood are you covered in?"

"Are you hurt?"

"What attacked you?"

"What happened?"

Everyone jumped in asking questions at the same time, which just confused my jumbled thoughts even more. I swallowed the lump that had been growing in my throat, and closed my eyes for a minute before beginning to explain what I knew. As soon as I opened my mouth everyone else fell silent.

Angel and Nudge started crying silently and Gazzy looked like he was going to be sick. Iggy had balled his hands in to fists and his knuckles were turning white. I wish Max was here to be leader in the search for her. I didn't want to step up and be leader, but as next oldest, I had to. And most importantly, I needed to find Max!

"Alright everyone. We need to try and figure out what happened and where Max could have been taken, but be careful! Whatever hurt Max might come back for the rest of us. Nudge, Angel and Gazzy, I want you three to stay together and go up to Max's room and see if you find anything, even a journal would be helpful. Anything you find, bring to me. Iggy, you come with me, to check all the locks and windows to try and figure out how whatever got in, got in. And remember everyone, BE CAREFUL!"

Everyone started heading off to look where I told them to and I think I heard Nudge mutter something about that being the most she has ever heard me say in one go. She's right, but I have to be leader now, so I have to speak up.

Iggy and I start at the main door. As Iggy runs his hands over the door and windows downstairs I follow him. Nothing seems to have been picked or broken, so we head up to the next floor. We go in to Max's room, then Angel and Nudge's room, but find nothing broken or forced, so we head up to the attic, my room, and start looking. In one corner of my room we find a hole that looks like a bear tried to claw his way through to my room. A bear wouldn't have been able to get Max though.

"Maybe it was an Eraser. Ari or one of his friends. The new ones with wings could have gotten up high enough to get in." Iggy agrees with my fears. But could the Erasers have gotten Max so easily? How would they get her without waking me up? I was holding her!

The two of us go down to Max's room again and sit down on her bed with the others. They haven't found much yet, so we walk across the hall to the study and sit Nudge down in front of our only computer. Her hands move faster than I've ever seen them go as she opens file after file. Eventually, she ends up on my blog page, and screams. All of us rush over to her side and look at the screen. Someone had posted a video of Max, being held in a small room, not much bigger than a coat closet. She looked terrible, her wings looked matted with blood as well as her hair, and she didn't seem to be moving much, just enough to let us know she was alive.

Gazzy quickly explained the video to Iggy, who stood silently by our side. Suddenly I got an idea!

"Angel! Can you use your powers to get into Nudges head, while Nudge is connected to the computer like, to see if you can somehow get into Max's mind? We might be able to figure out where she is that way. Maybe…"

Angel looks up at me for a moment and I wonder if she thinks I've lost my mind, but turns away and puts her tiny hands on Nudge's shoulders, and Nudge puts her hands back on the computer. We three guys stand silently, waiting for the little girls to say something.

After about ten minutes or so, Angel looks up at me and says, "I know where she is."


	7. Chapter 7

I immediately felt relief flood through me at Angel's words. She knew where Max, was. We could get her back. Unfortunately, my relief left as quickly as it came with Angel's next words.

"She is almost dead though. If we don't get there soon, she will die." Angel said holding back tears.

I did a very un-Fang like thing and opened my arms and pulled her close to me and let her cry. I don't normally openly comfort people, but I wanted the comfort as well so it was a good disguise.

"Lets go then. Where to Angel?" Iggy tried to take control. Remind me to thank him later.

"We'll never get there in time! They're holding her 4 hours from here. I don't think Max has that kind of time." Angel says to my stomach, which is about where she comes up to on me.

"Angel, and you tell me exactly where we can find Max?" I think I have a plan

"Let me show you." I feel a weird worming sensation in my brain as Angel implants directions and the images of where we need to go.

"Okey. Angel, you lead Nudge and Gazzy, and follow as quickly as you can. Iggy and I will go ahead, but I want you guys to come. Be very careful!" As an after thought, I pull my cell phone out of my pocket and hand in to Angel. "Keep this close to you, and call Iggy if you have any problems."

Iggy and I run to our rooms and put some basic equipment in my backpack. We rush back down and run outside and jump in to the air. We take off in the direction Angel sent us as fast as we could. We had to go the long way around at some points so as not to fly directly over a city where someone might see us. Angel and the others where going to wait until nightfall to leave.

A little after three hours, we were at the edge of the forest that Angel said Max would be in, so we stopped to re-fuel. Then the two of us jumped into the sky again after storing our bag and began searching the area for the shack Angel had shown me. An hour later, we still hadn't found it so we went back to our bags and began waiting for Angel and the others to come. Angel should be able to find it faster than us.

I finally spoted Angel and the others approching us so i waved them down. Just as they landed by us, we heard a scream letting us know our time was almost up to save Max!


	8. Chapter 8

The others would have no time to refuel. We had to get to Max like now or sooner. Iggy took off at a run and the rest of us followed him. He would know exactly where to go better than us from hearing the scream. We reached the shack in thirty seconds flat, and I kicked down the door.

My eyes darted around the room looking for Max, as the others ran in behind me. My eyes came to rest on her limp form lying on the ground right next to the fireplace. Actually, she might have been part in the fire. My eyes widened in shock as he jeans began to burn. I ran over to her and started taking her pants off. I felt invasive, even if i was trying to save her. I got her pants off, and Gazzy stomped on them till the flames went out. picking her up, I carried her bridal style from the shack. Or I started to at least.

"FANG!!!!!! BEHIND YOU!" Nudge's scared voice broke the silence.

I turned around expecting Erasers, but these creatures seemed much worse. They stood on two legs like humans, but they were far from it. They had a face like the devil, and had red-orange scally skin. Their eyes glowed red and their teeth were bright white, and sharp looking as razers. On each hand they had three fingers, that had nails that looked like they could slice my head off without any effort. Their feet were like the talons of an eagle, only much more leathal looking.

I looked them over again, as the rest of the flock moved behind me. I was about to yell out, in code of course, the attack plan which was 'RUN!' when they jumped straight up into the air as these blood red leathery wings ripped from there backs and they broke through the celling and flew away.

We didn't wait for them to come back, we jumped into the air and flew away. We stopped a few miles out of the forest. And checked into a hotel for the night. We got two rooms, and Angel, Nudge, Gazzy and Iggy took one, while Max and I took the other. We still hadn't been able to check if Max was alive or not yet. We opened up the door to the first room and walked inside. I lay Max down on the bed, and stood to the side. I picked up her wrist to check for a pulse. I panic for a minute before I feel it. Max was dying in front of my eyes and I felt powerless to help her.

I went to pull her sweatshirt off of her, as Angel went to grab towels to stop the blood flow. I knew she would rather me undress her than leave her to die, but it still felt weird undressing her. Whenever I had imagioned seeing Max naked, she had always been conciouse, and not bleeding to death. Once her sweatshirt was off, Max was left in only a plain black bra and matching underwear. I gulped as I looked her over. I traced my fingers down the scar she had down her chest from the time she attacked herself. My eyes then snapped over to her arm, which looked like most the muscle was missing. One look at Angel and I knew, the chip was gone.

My hand was still resting on Max's scar, when I felt her hand grab mine. My eyes snapped frm Angel's face to the face of my Max. Her eyes fluttered open, and she smiled, before they closed again and her head fell to the side. I grabbed a towel from Angel and pulled my hand from Max's and pressed the towel against her arm. I motioned that Nudge should keep it there, and keep presure on it. Angel went and wet down the other towel and brought it back. I began wipping the dirt and blood off on Max's body looking for more wounds. That seemed to be the only one.

Max looked more pale than normal, from blood loss. The only question was if she lost too much blood or not. Angel and Nudge tied the towel tightly around Max's arm, and then went with the others to the next room. They left the conencting door opened, but locked all the other windows and doors. Not that it would stop those creatures. I pulled a blanket off the next bed and put it over Max, then climbed in bed next to her. I put my arms around her, but didn't sleep. I was never going to let anything take Max from me again.

Iggy came in soon and asked me if I wanted him to stand on guard so I could get some sleep. I let him becuase I really was quite tired. Iggy stood in the door way between the two rooms. I woke up a few hours later, when Max started saying my name. I sat up a little so I could look at her face, and she moved in closer to my body. At least this time, she was the one not wearing much instead of me.

She tried to say something but couldnt quite get it out, so she went back to sleep. I pulled her closer to me and went to sleep again. As long as she was alive, I could face anything, even those creatures if ever the need came about. In the morning, all of us would need to talk.


	9. Chapter 9

Max followed me in to the other hotel room, where everyone else was sitting around on the beds waiting for us. Max sat down, and I sat next to her, as she put her hand in mine again.

"Does Max know what happened to her, Fang? Does she know what those creatures where? They sounded pretty fierce if Gazzy wasn't exaggerating." Iggy asked me as soon as I sat down.

"Yes, Max does know what happened to her, she was there twat face! Those creatures took my computer chip." Max began angrily. Apparently she could talk for herself.

"They aren't from the school. They are what the school created us to destroy." These words of Max's leave the room ringing with silence.

This means that by destroying these creatures we are helping our enemies, but do we have a choice not to destroy them? Probably not, especially since they took my Max from me. But can we trust the school enough to side with them? And what happens once these creatures are gone? Will the school still keep coming after us? Or will they not need us anymore because the creatures are gone?

"What do you know about them?" I asked, turning my head to look into Max's eyes.

"Not much really, only that they are more than capable than killing, and are worse than they look. Much worse. They can change shape to appear like a normal person. If you allow them to touch you, they have complete access to your mind until the contact is broken. As far as I can tell, there is no way to destroy them; they cant be drowned, burned, they don't need to breathe, so we cant suffocate them. There skin is harder than diamonds, and cant be cut by normal means. They are the perfection of evil; they call themselves demons."

"So we are doomed and there is nothing we can do and we are all going to die and these demons will destroy the world and there is no way to stop them and they want to kill us? Oh Max! There has to be something you can do to save us! I don't want them to kill me! I don't want to die! Max please—" Nudge looked really scared

"SHUT UP, NUDGE! Can't you see you're not the only one who is worried! We all are, so don't stress us out anymore with useless blabbering! Just shut up and let us think!" Iggy snapped at Nudge.

"STOP IT, IGGY! You're not helping! You are only stressing us out just as much as Nudge! Can't you see that we need to work together and support each other if we want to get anything done? We can't destroy ourselves and make it that much easier for these creatures! We are going to need everyone if we are going to be able to stop this unstoppable force." Gazzy snapped at Iggy.

"Guys! GUYS! STOP IT! EVERYONE JUST STOP IT!" Max was yelling at all of us, who after Gazzy's comment had started yelling at each other. "Gazzy is right! We do all need each other, so lets stop arguing, and start thinking!"

We all fall silence and mull through our own thoughts. I notice I must have dropped Max's hand at some point when everyone was arguing, so I took it again and gave it a light squeeze, which she returned.

"First things first," she said looking straight at Iggy, "We need to get Alice before those creatures do. Somehow, she is connected to us."

Iggy went paler than normal at this comment and then nodded his head. We all started throwing our things pell-mell back into our bags, and got ready to leave. Max gave the word and we all took to the sky, flying back to Alice as fast as possible. What Alice had to do with all of this, I didn't yet know, but dam! Would she be important in the long run.


	10. Chapter 10

We didn't get very far before we had to stop. Max's arm was almost healed overnight, but it was still pretty weak. She was having some trouble flying because of it, so when we landed I handed my bag to Gazzy and carried Max for a while.

After about another hour, we had to stop again, this time we decided we needed a new strategy to get to Alice before it was too late. Max suggested that Iggy, Gazzy and Angel go on ahead and Nudge, herself and I would follow as quickly as possible because we would be slower because of Max. It made sense, so we sent Iggy, Gazzy and Angel off, and we planed to take a short rest.

"I hate this! I can't do anything useful and I'm just slowing us down! You two should go catch up with them and leave me behind!" Max yelled, pounding her fists against me and crying.

"Don't say that Max, I need you, the whole flock does! We can survive without Alice, so long as we have you to keep everything together!" I pulled her against me and held her tight.

She was still crying as she fell asleep in my arms. After about an hour or so, Nudge came over and woke us up so we could head off again.

We went on flying, Max by herself, me carrying Max, and resting for a while until nightfall when we decided we should stop for the night. Using some of our remaining money, we went to a fast food place and bought about a dozen hamburgers, each.

After stuffing ourselves, we flew up to the top of one of the highest buildings, not that it was very impressive since the highest building was only three stories.

According to Max, we were probably about another four hours from our destination and would get there first thing in the morning. Hopefully, Iggy had gotten to Alice and rescued her with Angel and Gazzy. I really hope everything is okay.

The next morning, Max got us up early and we headed out to get to Alice and the rest of the flock. I don't know what got in to her but it was like she was possessed. I ended up having to carry her for the last hour and a half when she totally ran out of steam.

We were about five minutes from Alice's house, when we heard Angel calling to us so we landed by her. Max ran right over to Alice the second we landed and grabbed her arm and turned it over.

We all watches as Max turned paler than death and showed us a huge gash on the back of Alice's shoulder. This gash meant that the creatures had got to her before us, and that we were all now in danger.


	11. Chapter 11

I just watched as Max grabbed Iggy's hand and ran it across Alice's shoulder.

"What does that mean, Max? What is going to happen to her? Did those things do this to her? She will be alright, wont she Max? You will make sure she is okay. Right Max?" Iggy was practically begging of Max.

When Max couldn't promise Iggy what he wanted her to promise him, that Alice would be okay, he launched himself at his girlfriend and held her close.

"Nothing will hurt you. I won't let it happen. Nothing will hurt you." Iggy promised Alice, although I wasn't sure he could keep the promise if Max didn't think so.

Finally we realized we should probably get away from here and quickly. We flew a few miles out and found a small hotel we could stay at. Because of the card Max had that her voice had kind of led her to still, we could afford to get a room, so we got two. We decided on two connecting rooms. Iggy and Alice could stay in one room with Max and I, and the younger kids would be in the room right next to us, that way no one would have to sleep on the ground.

After checking to make sure everything was all locked up, Max climbed in bed beside me. Alice was crying in the next bed and Iggy was doing his best to explain things to her and calm her down. Poor Alice, I can't imagine what she must be going through right now. Poor Iggy as well I guess.

I didn't get much of a chance to dwell on them though, because Max had moved closer to me.

"Fang?" I looked at her, "Kiss me." She whispered to me. Well, I did the only thing I could do; listen to her and do what I was told. So yea, I closed my eyes and kissed her.

It started out as just a simple kiss, but intensified quickly, becoming almost desperate and rushed. I guess both of us were really worried about what would come next, and didn't know how much time we had left. It seemed like we were acting on these fears in a way in that kiss.

I'm not exactly sure how this happened exactly, but soon we were both pretty much naked. As in, no clothes on. And we were still kissing. And in bed. Together. I guess you can guess what happens next.

The next morning, Max was still in bed with me. I laughed to myself when I realized this was the first time she had fallen asleep in my arms and not been missing in the morning. She was still sleeping so I kissed her softly and went to go take a shower. When I got out, Max was busy waking everyone else up and asking what they wanted for breakfast.

She saw I was out so she took over the bathroom before Iggy or Alice could, and I tried to busy myself. I was kind of embarrassed by the fact that Iggy and Alice had been in the room with us, and had no idea if they had noticed anything or not.

I turned around to make sure Angel wasn't near by, and saw that she must have been in the shower because I couldn't see her. Good, that means that she wasn't reading my personal private thoughts again.

So once Max got out of the shower, Iggy went in and when he got out Alice went in. In the other room, once everyone had finished showering, Max called in room service for breakfast, and told everyone to pack up, that we would most likely be leaving after we ate.

Back in the room I slept in, I was lying propped up on the bed watching some random TV show. Max came in and jumped on top of me laughing. I kissed her on the top of her head and she rolled over so she was next to me instead of on top.

When someone knocked on the door Max made a face at me and got off the bed and walked over to the door to let room service in.

"Ms. Ride? Mail for you." One of the hotel people said to Max after setting the food down on the desk in the corner.

Max grabbed the letter and walked over to me and sat down on the bed. The people who brought up the room service left and shut the door. Angel, Nudge and Gazzy all grabbed there food and ran back in to the other room to watch more cartoons. Iggy and Alice came over and sat by us on the bed. Well, Iggy did, and Alice just followed.

Max opened the letter and began reading out loud; _my dear Maximum. After your little blind buddy, Iggy, blew up the school I was told to pretend to disappear so you would think I was gone until you realized that the school was really there to help you, not hurt you. Anyways, I believe it is too late now, you have already seen them, and I have been stolen from you. I hope by this point, you know who I am. Yes, Maximum, that's right, I am your "voice"—_

Max broke off and looked at me scared. I reached over and grabbed the letter from her and kept reading out loud while she moved closer to me and was hugging my arm tightly.

_With the appearance of these creatures, I was meant to start talking to you again, only, as I said before, I was taken from you. The girl I am not part of was never meant to be part of the experiment, but those creatures believed she was important to your flock and that bringing her in would hurt you all greatly. She is also having a lot of trouble dealing with everything as well as the new voice in her head._

Iggy stopped me at this point to ask Max who the voice was talking about. Max just shook her head and took the letter back from me and kept reading.

_Do your best, Maximum, to help her through this. And don't be too alarmed at your own changed which you should begin to notice soon. Sorry to add so much more to your already over flowing plate. I have faith in you, Maximum, have faith in yourself as well. _


	12. Chapter 12

We were all silent as Max finished reading the letter. Who was the voice talking about? Where was the chip now? I dared not think that it was in Alice's arm. That would be beyond terrible.

My fears were answered as everyone looked at Alice. She made a noise like a scared animal and instinctively rubbed at her shoulder. Iggy looked like he could punch a hole in a solid brick wall, he was so angry.

Max cuddled up closer to me, still clutching the dam letter. Why couldn't anything be easy for us?!

Alice looked really scared, and Iggy seemed to sense her fear since he couldn't see it like the rest of Max and I could. Iggy turned back to his girlfriend and wrapped his arms protectively around her waist.

"Now what Max? Now what do we do? What _can _we do?" Iggy broke the silence the letter had put in the room.

"I have a plan. There is always a plan. There is always something we can do. We are NOT giving up, no matter what!" Max said to Iggy, although I'm sure she was more saying it to convince herself than anyone else. "Tell the younger kids to get ready that we will leave when I get back. I need to think for a bit."

Iggy nodded and, still holding onto Alice, went into the other room to talk to the others. Max took my hand and led me outside. We started walking around for a bit without saying anything. I'm sure we were too busy thinking about what to do.

I don't really think there is much for us to do, but wait and see what happens. The letter said there would be changes. We would just have to wait and see what would happen.

I guess Max thought the same since when we got back to the room, she told everyone that to unpack, that we would be staying here until further notice. The younger kids were very excited. Pool, TV, room service, beds, clean clothes, warm showers; I didn't blame them for wanting to stay.

The younger kids ran to unpack and put swimsuits on to go swimming. Alice was still kind of freaked out, but decided to go with Iggy to keep an eye on them. Max told me I could go also, that she was just feeling sick and was going to try and get some more sleep. I told her I would stay and keep her company.

She climbed back into bed and fell asleep almost right away. I decided to update my blog since I hadn't in a while so I pulled out my laptop and plugged it in. A bunch more hits, so I had a lot to respond to. I smiled and started typing a response to a girl who wrote to me saying she loved me and if I ever got tired of Max to come by her house and pick her up and fly away with her. I should just type this out once and send it to almost every girl who writes me, it seems they all say the same thing.

Anyways, I had just about finished responding to everyone when Iggy came bursting through the door carrying Alice, who looked like she had passed out. I stood up to ask if she was okay when she suddenly opened her eyes and started screaming.

Her screaming seemed to have woken Max up who started screaming even louder than Alice was. I ran over to Max as Iggy set Alice on his bed. I pulled Max towards myself and tried to calm her down, but with no luck.

The younger kids ran in shortly after to make sure everything was okay. Iggy and I both yelled at them to just go into the next room and watch TV or something. They all seemed pretty mad, but when Max started screaming again they quickly ran to the other room.

Finally after a few minutes they both stopped screaming and Alice passed out again. Max stayed awake, but was shaking and looked like she was in a lot of pain. I tried asking what was wrong but she didn't seem able to respond. She didn't fall asleep, but tucked herself into a ball and pressed herself against my chest.

I think I must have drifted off to sleep after a bit because next thing I know Max is screaming again. This time she was screaming something I could understand.

"MY WINGS! MY WINGS! MY WINGS!" Max was screaming over and over. Iggy flicked on a light switch and I looked at Max only to see that her wings had disappeared!

"What's happened to them?" I asked anyone who could answer. Max put my hand on her back, and I saw that her wings were still there, but only a few inches long, defiantly not useable for flight. Max started screaming again for a few minutes before passing out.

I was beside my self. I had no idea what to do. I was about to open my mouth to ask Iggy when Alice started screaming bloody murder again. She wasn't yelling words like Max had been, she was just yelling in pain. I looked at Max who was completely passed out and then moved a few feet to Alice and Iggy to see if I could do anything.

She was clutching at her back, so Iggy and I both leaned forward to see what was on her back. We looked for a few seconds before I hit the wall on the other side of the room. I looked over at Alice who was in the middle of her bed, laying face down, with giant wings coming out of her back. And that was the last thing I saw before I blacked out from hitting my head to hard against the wall.

When I next woke up, Angel, Nudge and Gazzy were in the room with us. I was back on the bed next to Max so I guess they had moved me. Max…. I rolled over to find her and instantly wrapped my arms around her. This seemed to wake her up because she opened her eyes and turned around in my arms to face me.

"Look. I'm normal." She said before rolling over to let me see her back. The small wings that had been there last night were gone, and her back was completely smooth.

"And I'm not…" Alice said waking up and turning to Iggy.


End file.
